Open Source CMS Vendor Releases Magnolia Now, New DX Platform

Basel, Switzerland-based Magnolia, an open source content management system (CMS) vendor, is taking its web-based platform to the cloud.

Although CMO Lars Boeddener said its on-premises platform remains the "essence of what we do," it is building on the offering with a cloud-based digital experience platform. The new platform, Magnolia Now, is designed to make content management easier and speed go-to-market plans. It will be available starting in November.

Enhanced Search, Personalization

Magnolia announced Magnolia Now earlier this month at its seventh annual Magnolia Conference in Basel. The event drew about 300 attendees, the largest gathering to date in the vendor's history.

Boeddener told CMSWire the platform came together after 18 months of development. It combines lightweight front-end development, flexibility and ease for creativity and features like enhanced search and personalization. In a demo with CMSWire, template changes and other website updates required little technical expertise.

“Magnolia Now opens an entirely new market for us,” CEO Pascal Mangold said.

“While Magnolia Core remains the most flexible enterprise CMS on the market, not every customer has the means to utilize its power to its full extent. Magnolia Now takes the key functionalities of Magnolia Core and packs that up into the cloud. Not only does that free DX projects from the IT bottleneck typically found in organizations today, but it also ensures the fastest time to market for digital experience projects, a critical issue for organizations today."

New Name for Core CMS

Magnolia also renamed its on-premises CMS offering Magnolia Core and added component level personalization as standard to the platform. It has always been possible to custom-add personalization.

Officials also boasted about the light development offering, which they call a "highly agile Java-free way to customize Magnolia using the skills and tools front end developers already have."

“We introduced light development at last year’s conference, and it has helped our users to really push the boundaries of innovation,” Boris Kraft, Magnolia chief visionary officer, said. “With Magnolia Now, front end developers, UX designers and content editors will benefit from a forgiving environment, giving them even more freedom to innovate.”

Magnolia Now offers pre-installed connectors and modules and lower capital expenditure. It includes features like automated deployment release management cockpit and real world user acceptance testing.

"All the components for a great digital experience are in place," said Zak Greant, Magnolia senior technical evangelist.

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